Reshi Project_(name TBD)
2024-Present
3D printis, aluminum, Reshi
2024-Present
3D printis, aluminum, Reshi
This series of works deals with the melding of 3D-printed objects with Ganoderma lucidum (reishi mushroom) mythology. Reshi is a type of fungi that has been consumed for centries in East Asia and has been ascribed healing, protective, and auspicious power, longevity, and immortality. By assuming the form of a suculpsuter:a mutation that combined generative, machine-made prototype with the actual reshi mushroom, this work investigated how means of production and design methods can alter, mutate, and update forms that have been historically invested with associations of spirituality, ritual, nature, and the pursuit of longevity.
Working with AI, the algorithm-generated, 3D-printed sculpture is not a reproduction of the original, but rather a rewriting of form using the logics of computation that respond to the rules, limitations, and possibility of digital modeling, additive manufacturing, and synthetic materials. This work looked at how cultural symbols can propagate over time, space, and context through generative design and advanced manufacturing tools.
Commenting on the accelerated development and the increasing accessibility of advanced manufacturing tools and the ways that cultural symbols can be propagated over context, time, and material form, this work also questioned how the biological and material forms of these mushrooms, once imbued with the power to grant humans immortality, will be rewritten by the mass production of digital design and additive manufacturing tools and the application of synthetic materials.
In the context of the tension of biological and technological forces and logic, how will the spiritual power of reshi persist, disappear, or transform? How will the pursuit of immortality by humans be altered, reinterpreted, and mutated across technology, herbal medicine, and mythology? This work (ongoing) also re-interrogated some of the biological, spiritual, and material narratives that have been entangled with the form of Ganoderma lucidum throughout its history.
Working with AI, the algorithm-generated, 3D-printed sculpture is not a reproduction of the original, but rather a rewriting of form using the logics of computation that respond to the rules, limitations, and possibility of digital modeling, additive manufacturing, and synthetic materials. This work looked at how cultural symbols can propagate over time, space, and context through generative design and advanced manufacturing tools.
Commenting on the accelerated development and the increasing accessibility of advanced manufacturing tools and the ways that cultural symbols can be propagated over context, time, and material form, this work also questioned how the biological and material forms of these mushrooms, once imbued with the power to grant humans immortality, will be rewritten by the mass production of digital design and additive manufacturing tools and the application of synthetic materials.
In the context of the tension of biological and technological forces and logic, how will the spiritual power of reshi persist, disappear, or transform? How will the pursuit of immortality by humans be altered, reinterpreted, and mutated across technology, herbal medicine, and mythology? This work (ongoing) also re-interrogated some of the biological, spiritual, and material narratives that have been entangled with the form of Ganoderma lucidum throughout its history.